Many businesses and brands have a social media presence as part of an overall marketing strategy but advertising on those platforms has become a must as customers are finding products and services through social media ads. This means that companies should be implementing promotional strategies for social media particularly on platforms such as Facebook and Instagram.
Facebook boasts over 1 billion daily active users and Instagram has over 300 million daily active users (a number that continues to grow at an incredible pace). These are numbers that cannot be ignored when it comes to ad campaigns. With these numbers also come substantial benefits to running ads via these social networks.
Although Facebook and Instagram operate as separate platforms they are under the same ownership (Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012). The greatest benefit that comes with this is the ability to create an ad for Instagram as part of the Facebook ad editor which easily allows for ads to be created, edited and analyzed centrally while running across both networks. Each of them offers the ability to advertise in formats that include: image ads, video ads, carousel ads and slideshow ads.
Facebook has become an advertising powerhouse with unique targeting options which include: layering interests, video engagement, look-a-like audiences, customer lists and lead nurturing. These targeting options allow for both Facebook and Instagram ads to be geared towards specific audiences based on factors such as: demographics, interests, and behaviours.
One clear distinction between the two platforms is the user demographic. Instagram is primarily a social network for teenagers while the Facebook audience is more adult-oriented. This is important to bear in mind when determining the target audience for a marketing campaign.
Another benefit to both platforms is their cost-effectiveness. Each offers options for advertising where costs-per-click amount to mere cents being spent.
Other benefits of advertising through these social media networks include:
- Interaction – engagement on both platforms in terms of “likes” (indicated by the use of hearts on Instagram) is high along with comments
- Brand Awareness – tracking the number of followers, reactions to posts and social media shares expands the outreach of a brand and therefor increases awareness
- Weblinks – weblinks can be created and linked to ads which can be monitored through the analytics in place on the networks
- Web Conversions – purchases, downloads and subscriptions can be monitored using a conversion tracking pixel which provides statistical data on conversion rates
- App Installations – the platforms allow for a link back to an app store which is beneficial to a service or brand trying to promote app activity
These benefits arguably make Facebook and Instagram powerful ad platforms which make them a must-have for business. Talk to the experts at Social Know How to learn how your brand can benefit from social media ads as part of an overall social media marketing strategy.
